After a series of events, I found myself in a town called Horden for the evening. It’s small, by the coast and not far from Peterlee. It’s not one of those seaside towns that sell postcards though.

My mates were playing a gig at the Horden Catholic Club and I went down to watch them. Before the gig, I needed some money so went off in search of a cash machine. I had an interesting walk and took it all in.

The area of Horden I passed through consisted of rows upon rows of terraced houses. The majority of them were either to let or boarded up, with the boarding ranging from black bin liners to full on metal grates. It was a bit grim.

As I picked my footing around the dog mess, I passed some people in the street talking about so and so who broke into wherever and made his getaway over the back fences. I kept walking.

I found the high street and subsequently the bank. All the shops were closed, but whoever sold roller shutter doors in that area must have made a fortune. I got my cash and headed back.

On the way back I noticed that some of the houses had used spray paint to identify which number they were. It was effective and fit in with the feel of the place.

I got back to the venue and watched the band. The gig was good but the place was pretty empty. I’m guessing the Catholic Club in Horden isn’t the place to be on a Saturday night. I won’t be going back in a hurry.

Believe it or not, I found myself in London again last month – it’s quite easy to get there on the train from Newcastle. We’d gone down to join in with some family birthday celebrations.

We decided to stay in The Hub by Premier Inn next to King’s Cross Station. It was an excellent hotel even though the rooms were small, but for the price and location it was a bargain. It was modern and stylish with a futuristic finish to it.

One of the features of the hotel was that the room could be controlled via an app, but for a room where you could be no more than six feet away from the light switches, this seemed a bit over the top. It felt as if the app had been made just for the sake of having it. We downloaded it nonetheless. Continue reading →

The following day, after getting a decent sleep under a duvet, we went back into London to visit some exhibitions. My partner wasn’t too bothered about them so she bought a good book to read.

We hopped on the train and as spaces were limited, we sat with an Australian who was planning his route to get to the Goodwood festival of speed. Sensing his confusion over the tube map, we chipped in and affirmed that he had read it correctly. My brother was wearing his Red Bull Racing top and so naturally we all struck up a conversation about Formula One. Continue reading →

The other weekend, my partner and I, along with my brother, hit the road down to London for the British Summer Time Festival to watch Phil Collins in Hyde Park. As we were travelling in cars, we opted to stay in High Wycombe due to its offerings of cheap hotels and multiple car parking opportunities. The availability of frequent trains heading into London had an impact on the location too.

I had never visited High Wycombe before. The place seemed pleasant enough complete with a market, old churches and an active night life. It also had an abundance of shopping malls and double mini-roundabouts. We were staying in a budget-chain hotel complete with great rooms and great beds – the place had it all; apart from staff. However, where the employee headcount lacked, the numbers were made up by some homeless people sleeping in the fire exit. Continue reading →

I’d like to think of myself as an experienced Lotus Elise driver and over the years I have learnt a few things about planning a road trip with the Type 23. As a result, here are my top five tips for doing a road trip in a Lotus Elise! Continue reading →

A few months ago, we took a road trip around Wales. It rained a lot which really shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it did but a dampener on things! All in all it was a 950 mile round trip from Newcastle which took in the sights of Swansea, Portmeirion and lots of scenic tarmac! It was the first proper outing in the Lotus since I’d had its head gasket replaced and thankfully it gave us no problems (which is more than can be said for it recently). Continue reading →

Hello! As my blogging has not been very regular over the past month or so, I thought I’d share another section from my book, Florida – A Delayed Discovery. To set the scene, I was in Daytona and things weren’t going to plan. After a day at the Daytona International Speedway, I went for a wander… Continue reading →